2013: Consumer internet continues to bag a major chunk of VC money

Consumer internet continues to get most of the venture capital dollars, with two e-commerce firms and a classifieds player occupying the first three spots. Flipkart continued with its fundraising spree, followed by Snapdeal, another e-tailer. Digital food guide Zomato also surprised the consumer internet market with its large round of funding.

These was followed by online ad network Komli and data protection software provider Druva.

Here is a look at the top five VC deals of the year.

Flipkart raises $360 million from Naspers, Sofina, Morgan Stanley, Dragoneer Investment Group & Vulcan Capital: The list of investors in India's largest e-tailer grew longer as the six-year old company became the most heavily venture-backed India company ($550 million and

counting). The company raised a new round of funding in two phases this year, initially with $200 million from existing investors like South Africa's Naspers, Accel Partners, Tiger Global and Iconiq Capital in July.

This was followed by $160 million more from new investors like Belgium-based Sofina, US-based Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Dragoneer Investment Group and Vulcan Capital (founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen), along with participation from existing investor Tiger Global.

The war chest allows Flipkart to take on Amazon, which has entered the Indian market, besides local rivals. It has a target of generating $1 billion in gross sales by 2015.

Snapdeal raises $50M from eBay, Recruit, Intel Capital, Saama Capital, ru-Net: Online marketplace Snapdeal raised $50 million more to take its total fundraising tally to $103 million. Owned by Jasper Infotech, the company raised the round in two phases. The first phase was led by eBay Inc and Japan's Recruit Co in April, while the second was led by venture capital investors Intel Capital, Saama Capital and ru-Net Ventures. With this investment, eBay has emerged the lead investor in Snapdeal.

Existing backers Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Capital and Indo-US venture Partners also participated in the round.

While it is said to be in talks for another round of funding, the company plans to get listed in the US in the next 12-24 months.

Zomato raises $37M from Sequoia Capital, Infoedge: Gurgaon-based Zomato Media Pvt Ltd (formerly DC Foodiebay Online Services Pvt Ltd), which owns the popular restaurant and event-listing and review site

Zomato, raised a Rs 227.6 crore ($37 million) investment round led by Sequoia Capital along with existing investor Info Edge.

The round gave the company a post-money valuation of around Rs 1,000 crore or around $158 million, one of the largest in the consumer internet space. Info Edge, which owns Naukri.com, owns majority stake of over 50 per cent in the company. More on valuations here.

Zomato has become one of the first Indian consumer internet brands to go global. It started out with listings in only Delhi-NCR region and today has presence in across 35 cities in 11 countries in Africa, Asia and South America.

Komli Media raises $30M led by Peepul Capital: Online ad network Komli Media raised $30 million in its fifth round of funding. The round in the Mumbai-based company was led by Peepul Capital, which typically focuses on investments in southern Indian states.

This round is lower in quantum compared with the last one. In June last year, the firm had raised its largest round of $39 million from Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Western Technology Investment.

With the latest funding it has scooped close to $100 million to date, according to VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has over 400 employees across 18 offices in India, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong and North America.

The fresh capital raised will be used to further invest in its technology platforms and to strengthen the company's presence through integrated go-to-market solutions across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Druva Software raises $25M led by Tenaya Capital: Pune-based enterprise backup solutions firm Druva raised its Series C round of funding worth $25 million from Tenaya Capital with participation of existing investors Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. The firm had previously raised $5 million from Sequoia Capital in 2010 and followed it up with $12 million funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2011.

The fresh funding will support its inSync platform, an integrated suite of endpoint data protection and governance solutions that currently safeguards corporate information assets on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones in 76 countries. Its clients include Deloitte, NASA, PwC and Tesla.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)